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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Mothers should educate their daughters about gender equality

Empowering a child can be a tricky thing. As moms, we want our children to be
strong and assured of who they are, but we do not want them to make mistakes or
to face problems that we may have had to deal with when we were growing up.

While raising three daughters, my husband and I have walked a
tightrope, per se, to teach our girls to be strong and persistent without being
bullheaded and careless. Our priority is that our daughters are strong as
individuals.

Part of making sure that our daughters are strong is making sure
they know who they are in God. Our faith is very much a part of who we are and
a large part in how we have taught our daughters that we are all equal. Each
and every one of us, black, white, yellow, red, brown, male, female, what have
you, is equal. Part of being equal means that they should not ever allow
anybody to disrespect them.

Our girls hold on to stories of Jesus talking to Mary and Martha
freely along with the other disciples, as well as Queen Esther, who saved the
Jewish people by having the courage to speak up.

Being honest and upfront with our girls allows us to use
everyday examples with them as they grow and mature. As life events occur we
teach them how to handle it so they know what they should expect and how they,
as young women, should be treated.

One television show our daughters enjoy watching that puts women
on an equal footing with men and allows them to share the spotlight with the
main character is “Doctor Who”. The show is on BBC and shows equality better
than any others I have seen, whether it is Donna Noble giving the tenth doctor
the what for, River Song confusing everybody, or Sarah Jane, who went on to be
in her own show. All three women are good examples of strong, independent women
that oftentimes upstage the men in the story line.

“Doctor Who” is not the first television show to have a positive
girl-power message for my daughters. When they were younger, they loved to
watch “Sailor Moon,” which features female action heroes. There were five main
characters with five very different personalities and different interests that
became friends simply because they were teamed up to fight evil.

In using the show when they were younger, we were able to point
out the traits that were good in the characters. My oldest daughter loved
Sailor Venus, who was all about performing, and who also happened to be the top
crime fighter in London. The middle daughter loved Sailor Mercury, who was shy,
timid and a genius. Then the youngest was obsessed with Sailor
MiniMoon/ChibiUsa, who was simply determined to do what she set her mind to do.
Each of the characters that the girls related to had a characteristic that they
themselves had while also showing independence.

It helps to have examples that kids can relate to while they
come up and are molded into their best. There are women that my girls have
learned about who show them they can be anything they want to be, regardless of
whether that job is a stay-at-home mom, a career woman or even president of the
United States.

_____________________________

This article was originally published in The All State
Newspaper, the Student Voice of Austin Peay State University since 1930 in the
March 27th edition. And as an online grouping on March 28th.

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About Me

Always a creative, I have constantly sought out a way to tell a story. When I was a young child sitting next to my mother in church learning to take notes before I could even write, I would draw pictures of the message that was being shared. As I grew older I learned to communicate with tales from an amazing imagination. Once I got to be around 10, I received my first camera (an old 126 and then the 110 spy cam). I couldn't keep film in those, I was always snapping pictures. All through school I would journal and write. Once in high school freeverse poetry became a favorite and I was even recognized with one of my poems. The creativity never stopped.

And now, as I enter my second childhood, the muse is becoming a close friend once again.